Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan, which is keen to minimize the impact of global economic crisis to the national economy and diminish its dependence on the oil sector, sees the agricultural sector as a central direction in a bid to diversify the national economy.

The country, with its advantageous climatic conditions and good opportunities to develop agrarian sector, has defined the establishment of agro-parks among its priorities to boost the agriculture development.

In this regard, the country's Economy Ministry has approved an action plan to develop agrarian sector in 2016, which stipulates creation of agro-parks in the Azerbaijani regions.

Agro-parks around the world have been designed to accommodate small farms, public areas and natural habitat. They provide an access of small farmers to secure land and local markets, provide fresh food, and are an educational, environmental, and aesthetic amenity for nearby communities.

Currently, the establishment of agro-parks nears completion in Shamkir and Khachmaz regions, which will allow to expand domestic supply and support the exports.

Last year, President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the Garabagh Agrarian Industrial Park in Barda. The facility, with 5,000-tons logistic center, cattle-breeding complexes, a meat cutting and processing factory, and a fodder plant, has created 300 jobs.

Azerbaijan plans to export its high-quality agricultural products, which enjoy popularity and are in demand, to neighboring countries. Meanwhile, the agricultural sector is important not only for increasing Azerbaijan's export potential, but also for restoring and protecting the country's food security.

Given this, the country pays significant attention to the establishment of new agro-parks and attracting foreign direct investment in this sector.

In August 2015, Japan allocated Azerbaijan a grant worth $900,000 for the development of the agricultural sector. This agreement played an important role in upgrading the technical park of the agrarian sector of Azerbaijan and the development of human resources.

Over the past ten days, as a result of measures adopted in Azerbaijan to ensure food security, the production of husbandry goods has increased by 3.1 times, cattle-breeding by 3.4 times, meat production by 1.6 times, and grain production by 1.4 times.

As a result of agrarian reforms carried out in Azerbaijan, the guarantees were made for the dynamic development of agriculture.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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